Poet Thomas Kinsella gave an outstanding contribution to local literature in Dublin city

POET Thomas Kinsella was laid to rest over the Christmas holidays. Mr Kinsella (93), who grew up in Inchicore, an area that features heavily in his poetry, passed away on December 22 at Blackrock Clinic.

He was made a Freeman of Dublin in 2007 when a plaque was erected on his childhood home in Inchicore.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to literature, Thomas (pictured above) was the 75th person to be granted the Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin in 2007, by the then Lord Mayor Vincent Jackson, a Ballyfermot councillor.

As well as receiving recognition for his own poetry, he was acclaimed for his translations from early Irish, notably his version of The Táin, in a collaboration with the artist Louis le Brocquy.

One of his last public appearances was in 2018 when Trinity College conferred him with a Doctor in Letters for his lifetime achievement “as one of Ireland’s major 20th-century poets”.

Dublin’s Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland paid tribute to Mr Kinsella.

“Like many other Irish people of a certain age, I was introduced to the words of Thomas Kinsella through the Leaving Cert curriculum and his poetry ‘Mirror in February’ and ‘Another September’,” said the Lord Mayor.

His pride in his home city of Dublin shone through his work and as he said on receiving the Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin in Dublin’s City Hall on May 24, 2007, ‘Dublin gave many important things their first shape and content for me. I learned to look at the world through the rich reality of the inner city – a living history, with shades of Swift and Robert Emmett in my neighbourhood as I grew up.’ The Dublin flags on the Mansion House and City Hall flew at half-mast to mark his passing.